MEXICO LEGISLATIVE MILESTONE

Submitted by ub on

In what Committee Protecting Journalists called "a step forward in the fight against impunity," Mexico approved legislation that would implement a constitutional amendment giving federal authorities broader jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against freedom of expression.

The legislation, which has just passed this week will implement a constitutional amendment approved by the Mexican federal congress in 2012. The measure will establish accountability at senior levels of the national government, evading the more corrupt and less effective state law enforcement officials. CPJ had advocated widely for the passage of this legislation. In 2008 and 2010, a CPJ delegation met with former Mexican President Felipe Calderón, who promised he would implement the bill.

CPJ urges President Enrique Peña Nieto to immediately sign these measures into law and will work to ensure that Mexican authorities effectively use this new tool to bring the killers of journalists to justice. With at least 50 journalists killed or disappeared in Mexico in the last six years, the country should also join the UN Plan of Action.

http://cpj.org/killed/americas/mexico/

http://www.cpj.org/security/2013/03/pakistans-new-effort-to-improve-saf…